Psalms 34:6 NIV[6] This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.

March 24, 2026 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

Psalms 34:6 NIV
[6] This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.
David was not poor in monetary ways or in possessions, not by a long shot, but he recognized that even with all his wealth he was poor when it came to any ability to save himself. David was the perfect example of how you cam have everything and still have nothing without God. He was rich, yet he relied on God. He was a great warrior, yet he relied on God. He was skilled in many things, yet he relied on God.
He could have relied on his abilities, the way Sampson threw out his anointing to rely on his own strength. But David knew that without God he would not be king. Without God the giant would not have fallen. Without God Saul would have caught and killed him. Without God he would never have survived a single battle.
So many sought David’s life. So many wanted him dead and to take his kingdom. He lasted so long because of God. God chose him to be part of the birth line of Jesus.
No matter how much you have. No matter how strong, brave, smart, skilled, attractive you are, you are lost without God.

Take away:

We sometimes grow discouraged when those who hate God are heavily successful and we feel we are struggling. Yet God is the answer to every problem and He will help us.
The wicked who succeeded have their inheritance already, this world and what it gives.
But the righteous who love Jesus, we have an eternal inheritance.
Do not be discouraged, God will help you in all you do!!

March 22, 2026 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

Psalms 33:18 NIV
[18] But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
God cares for His people.
Read that again.
We hear and repeat those words so often that we forget the meaning. God Himself, care for you.
He watches us and keeps us safe. Even in times of trouble and terror God has us in His hands. Our hope is in the fact that God loves us and will take care of our needs. In truth, and this is hard, God does not always care for our wants. Sometimes He gives us what we want as a gift of love from a Father to a child, but we often we lose faith in Him on the times when He does not give us our wants and we forget the times when He has provided our needs.
I was reminded recently that we can build an alter to God even in the valley. That was really encouraging because I have felt like I am in the valley for a few days now. It’s a “why God?” Instead of a, “but God!” Moment. Then a friend said how she was marking down her blessings because she had seen how much she has, this was after spending two days in emergency not able to get in. But she lives like that. No eyes on the dark clouds, only on the ways to dance in the rain. God has permitted her to go through so much and yet every morning she takes special time to praise Him. I lack so much compared to her. To feel blessed in the middle of your stress may sound like a bumper sticker but it’s a good way to live. God has got you! He has a plan! You may never know why you spent this time in the valley, but God has a reason.

Take away:

Just because you are down does not mean that God has left you. Look around, you will see Him there reaching out His hand. Sometimes God speaks in the sunshine on a day that was supposed to rain. Sometimes He speaks through the laughter, in a time that should have brought pain. Sometimes He speaks in the “caught it just in time,” when you would rather it had not happened at all.
Sometimes the blessings are wrapped like a sugar coating on a pill. Something sweet to take a sting out of the bitter. But God will remind you He is there, you just have to look around.

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Lent day 2

February 24, 2023 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

Even the little concerns

Lent day 2
Today needed a photo, and if I’m honest I’m not sure everyone will get is being said in this one because this understanding of God is something we all struggle with.
God cares. Hang on, don’t roll your eyes, I know we have all heard this term missused and misrepresented. Just (as my new yoga teacher would say) breathe into it for a moment. God cares about you. Every tiny, crazy, dumb problem; every monumental catastrophe, He cares.
My example may sound odd but give me a chance.
You see that guy in the photo below? That’s my horse. He’s been my horse for over a decade. We have had big crazy dreams, big crazy failures and many learning moments. I’ve been worried about him lately. It’s been really cold (though he usually prefers that) and he has been acting odd. Distant. Even a little aggressive. I checked him over and he’s physically fine, so I chalked it up to the cold air and waited. Then it warmed up and nothing changed. Now I’m concerned and on with horse behaivior experts trying to see if something is wrong on the inside. With a little work on a few bad habbits his aggressive attitude faded away, but he was still playing shy with me. It felt like something I should deal with myself, I have trained horses for several years, I should be able to solve this on my own. Yet I was worried about him, and a little sad to see him acting that way toward me who loves him so much. So I prayed. I’ll admit my prayer began along the lines of “sorry to bother you with this God,” because like I said, it didn’t seem like a big thing, just something that was bothering me. Skip to today. I’m out in my yard, my horse comes right up to me, which he hasn’t done for the past several weeks, his ears are pricked but I give him some space and let him do his own thing. His own thing turned out to be following me around the yard, wanting to be close to me even though I had no treats, nuzzling my hair and being his normal self. It was so nice to realize that God wasn’t bothered by my odd, seemingly unimportant request. I know this story was long, and most people probably can’t relate to it, my point here is that no matter how silly your request seems, even if you feel like you should be able to deal with the problem yourself, even if you’re worried that God will see it as too small for his power, He still cares, it’s never too small of a problem for God. We get it into our heads that God likes big flashy miracles, but don’t forget that God was not in the Wind, He was in the whisper. Ask Him. No matter how silly small or unimportant it seems, bring it to God and watch for him to make things better. Like a loving father He’s never ashamed to kiss and bandage our scrapes.

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Friends

April 3, 2020 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

I will follow you anywhere. Even past the realms of death to that which lies beyond.
So says a true friend.
I will go through death alone and move through what lies beyond alone for you. So says the truest friend. Jesus.
No matter where we go we are not alone; and for the places where we cannot go, Jesus goes alone without us to fight our battles for us.
Isn’t that an encouraging thought.

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Shattered at the root

March 23, 2020 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

Foundation shattering

It’s 1:30 in the morning and the hospital just called. It looks like my grandmother could be dying. She is my step grandmother, but still very precious to us. The true heartbreak however is the crushing blow this is delivery to my grandfather. He had lost somebody dear to him before when my nana died and we don’t want to see him suffer like that again. It’s moments like this I feel Foundation shattered. Moments where I see people who are stronger than any of us fall on their knees and say, “God what did I do wrong?”
For something to shatter a strong Foundation it has to be a strong blow. Don’t we all have that happen? When things go so so very wrong we don’t know where to turn? The wave hits so solidly our foundation is shattered and we start to feel ourselves fall into the ocean. We have all had moments where we look up to God and we say, ” dear God where are you right now? Are You still here?”
He is still here. In the midst of us. We just don’t understand, and we can’t understand because we are not God. Is that a good enough answer? No. No we deserve a better answer. Or at least that’s how we feel, but we probably couldn’t handle the full truth and God’s reasoning because we aren’t Him. It might not feel like a good enough answer but it’s the only answer that I have. No matter what happens God is still King that is all I can put my faith in. We Still Believe.

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Heart jog

March 3, 2020 carriedinthecross1 Comment

Lately over the past year I have taken up jogging. I say lately because we live in Manitoba and I don’t want to die running on ice. In the beginning I was doing it so my dog would lose weight and my vet could stop giving me ‘that’ look. In the beginning we started slow. About 5 mins.
Then we improved till we could go 10. The other day I set me treadmill at jog speed and started to run while watching TV. 25 mins later my show was over and I still had energy. I then realized that my body had adjusted to going on long jogs.
It’s the same in our prayer lives. We start off wanting to please God but we tire out quickly. Aiming for an half an hour prayer can seem a little much in the beginning. What we needed is persistence. A daily routine and time set. Then little by little, without us even realizing it, our souls stretch and our spiritual cardio expands and we find ourselves enjoying more and more time with God. It may seem like a frustration in the beginning, but once you learn to love it you can’t go back.

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Easier would be nice God, just saying

February 28, 2020 carriedinthecross3 Comments

Some days….most days, I wish that God would make things easy. You know? Today I drove into an unassuming ditch. It looked like I would skim the edge of a very small divot leading to a field. The divot was a ditch so deep and so full of snow that suddenly not all four wheels were on the ground anymore. Worse it wasn’t my property. Worse still I was in the middle of no where so CAA would be a pain to try to get out to my trouble spot. So I prayed. Of course. Then tried for about 15mins to get out. Now, in my mind I would pray and walk my truck right out of the hole. Nope. I prayed and then tried and tried and tried until finally my little Holy Spirit nudge said, “call your DAD!” Dad face timed with me. We prayed together and he helped me figure out how to get the truck out. It took almost an hour. A lot of shoving bear claws under tires, backing up as far as it would go and repeating. A bit of shoveling, more prayer, and a 3 point basket cheer when we finally got out.
Was God not there as I struggled? Of course He was.
Why wasn’t He making it easy?
Good question.
I think that sometimes God gives us things that He helps us through. Instead of fixing the problem for us, He helps us fix the problem ourselves, then we learn and grow from our issues and mistakes.
Kind of like my Poppa. I can do so many things that most people probably can’t simply because instead of doing it for me my Poppa always showed me how to do it and had me do it myself. Actually so does my dad. He hands me the skill saw and says ‘cut here, follow this line.’ Saw gets pinched. ‘Here, this is how you get it unstuck without breaking the blade, now you do it.’ That’s how I know how to do things. I believe that God does that too.
“Here, listen to what I am saying and try it this way. Okay, good job, now try again.”
That way, we learn.
Thank God for teaching me, even if that sometimes means making me do things the hard way.

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Setting your mind

February 23, 2020February 23, 2020 carriedinthecross1 Comment

Setting your mind

In one of my favorite movies the main character loves the song ‘country roads’ and rewrites the lyrics to it. The new version has a line that says:
Determined to live alone but fearless, my constant longing is to be courageous. Loneliness is bottled up inside, going down this path that I must try.
It’s a beautiful description of who she is. She knows herself and is willing to allow that to be enough for her. She knows her path is lonely but she takes it anyway with determination to contain that feeling and not allow it to control her. She is fearless and longs for even greater courage. These simple lyrics could apply to many of us. We all have a path to travel and we all have struggles along the way; some we can foresee others we can not, it’s how we handle these struggles that define us. Will we take them on like a ship breaking through a squall, heading for the light? Or will we shrink back inside our cabin and hope that it all goes away? Maybe we try to run from the storm, but we know that that never works out, just ask Jonah. However we face our troubles, however we take on our paths, God knows what He’s doing. He saw these squalls even before you were born, and He also saw a way through them. Some people fear asking for courage because they think that it will add turmoil to their lives, but lives will have turmoil whether you ask for courage or not. Isn’t it better to have already built up your courage before the big struggles come? If you haven’t then those times when you feel you’ve hit rock bottom will be harder to overcome. It’s not easy to look down the road ahead, feel the wind grab your hair, feel the hard path beneath your feet and take off your fear like a cloak throwing it over your shoulder, stepping off the threshold of your comfort zone at a run and smiling about it. Those who have done so have had the chance to touch their stars, yours are still waiting for you. When you look at those who have left their fear behind and taken hold of their path you will see a person scarred. Their cloths may seem torn and their skin marred by the hard falls, but you will also see a brilliant smile of triumph on their faces and when they walk by they drip of starlight, because they have touched the heavens. Why? Because they trusted God would lead them and never doubted His perfect, guiding hand. Do you see starlight in your future? Your future as an accountant, a plumber, a teacher, a doctor, an electrician? You don’t have to be an artist to gleam, you just have to give what you are meant to do everything you’ve got and trust that every time you fall a nail pierced hand will be there to help you back up.

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Would you say ‘I do’?

February 16, 2020February 17, 2020 carriedinthecross1 Comment

If Jesus proposed to you, would you say ‘yes’?

Are you ready to spend your life with this man from Nazareth? This carpenter’s son, hated and despised by the world. Are you ready to give up everything to follow Him and His dreams for your future? Yes? To say ‘yes’ would mean He is master over your mind, body and soul, are you ready for that?
I’m not always sure I am. Does He have my soul? Oh yes! Does He have my heart? Definitely! Though, sometimes I admit He gets a little lost in all the other ones, things, activities I love; but in the end my heart is focused on Him. Does He have my body? Okay. Harder question. Do I always help the needy? Do I always step in for the little guy? No. If I feel the Holy Spirit say ‘GO!’ Do I go? Sometimes. And here is the big one. Does He have my mind? My mind goes through so many thoughts a day/ a minute/ 1/100th of a second, that it is hard to see what or whom my mind is centered on. There are times when I should pray but I watch Netflix instead. There are times when I am not up to reading my Bible. There are times when I just can’t. Oh I could if I tried, but I feel I just can’t. Does that mean my mind isn’t centered on God?
I like to put it into a less ginormous perspective. My dog is my life. And my horse. Most days they are why I smile and feel I can push through whatever it is that is happening. Sometimes I come home and don’t play with my dog because I feel I just can’t that day. Too worn out. Sometimes I ignore him and watch Netflix, sometimes we don’t walk because it is too cold. He is the center of my world, but sometimes I don’t give him my whole attention. That doesn’t mean he is out of my focus, just not my whole focus for that time. Believe me, he will make it known if he feels ignored.
Just because my mind is 1000% off 60, and I haven’t yet taken time to focus on God, doesn’t mean my mind is off of Him. He could draw all my attention to Him in a millisecond if He wanted to, because I love Him. So does He have my mind? Yes.
If Jesus proposed to you today, what would you say? I say to say ‘yes’ and hang on, because it is going to be a wild ride.

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I’ve been there too

February 9, 2020 carriedinthecross1 Comment

I’ve been there too

So, I caught a cold this past Monday. I have an old family rule that I live by that says, ‘if you don’t have a fever you aren’t sick enough to stay home.’ I hate this rule; but once something becomes engraved in your mind it’s hard to change. So I plowed through and made it to Saturday where I almost died on the couch. Not literally. Then my mom asks me to bring a meal over to my grandparents. Up I get and off I go to carry the food across the yard, (we live on an acreage). On the way back my dog wants to play. It’s so warm and sunny that we play for about half an hour. Then I see him. My horse with his head over the fence. Guess what? He too has a cold. I walk over and rub his neck and he presses his forehead against mine. I have had my horse for nearly 10 years, I knew he was saying he didn’t feel great. I also felt the sense that we were sharing a moment of understanding. He was sick and so was I, he needed a hug and so did I. We understood each other’s suffering. Then I got to work filling his water, because he was low and giving him extra mineral to combat the virus, and feed to keep his strength up and then more hugs.
I have two points here. One is that no matter how you feel there is always someone who needs something and true love is doing that something no matter what. My mom is really great at this. Complain your way through if you must, but Christ’s spirit of carrying one another’s burdens makes us keep giving. Point two. No matter what you are going through there is always someone somewhere who has been through the same and wants to help. You are NEVER alone. With 7 billion people in the world there is zero chance that you are the only one who is suffering this particular way. Others get it and even if they don’t, Jesus gets it and He has always got your back! He will Always help you through the tough times. Even if that though time is pushing through with a cold.

God arms me with strength. And He makes my path perfect. Psalms 18:32